The Price of Victory
by Rumika
Summary: My most recent Pokemon fanfic, told by James at a random encounter with Ash slightly after Koffing and Ekans evolved. It's one of my better attempts ^_^;


"Arbok, go!"  
  
"Wheezing, go!"  
  
Although it never works, I enjoy battling pokemon with the brats. I   
know Wheezing does, too. This battle I knew would end like all the   
other battles, but I didn't say so out loud. I feel kind of bad about   
sending Wheezing out to lose every time we see them, but when I'm   
training him, he never complains about it. I think he likes the   
exercise, he doesn't get out very often. Jessie knows that we never   
win, but she never says anything. It bothers us all, but it's fun to   
try. Arbok likes the exercise, too, so there's no trouble there,   
either.  
  
"Pikachu, thundershock! Maybe today they'll learn!"  
  
The inevitable jolt of electricity comes, and we fall into the hole we   
carefully dug earlier. Arbok's KO'd, Wheezing's beaten, and Jessie   
and I were roughed up. I wanted to go get something to eat.  
  
"Jessie, can we go now?" I ask, knowing that we'd been beaten. All   
the signs were there, we were in a hole, I was in pain, and Ash and   
Co. were explaining their sappy lessons to their friend for the day.  
  
"James, I wish... just once.. we could win. I wouldn't even need the   
Pikachu, I just want to beat them ONCE! James, why can't we ever   
win? It's not fair!"   
  
That was not the reply I expected. I was expecting a blow to the   
head and being dragged back to camp. Clearly Jessie was shaken at the   
lack of respect and victories we'd had. She was nearly on the verge   
of tears, and she was stroking the fallen Arbok. I wished we could   
win once, too. I looked up at Wheezing's faces, gloomy as always. I   
did like that it evolved just for me, but I liked it better as   
Koffing. Koffing always smiled, and it gave me a ray of hope.   
Wheezing has this permanently sad look on its face, and it makes me   
sad, too. It looked sadder than normal.  
  
"Wheezing, it's not your fault. We'll get them next time." I   
comforted him quietly. Wheezing called its name and floated closer.   
I stood up and hugged it.  
  
"Wheezing, your a tough pokemon. One day you'll be strong enough to   
beat that Pikachu, you'll see! We'll go back to headquarters and   
train harder than ever!" I said again quietly, so Jessie wouldn't   
hear. She was rather upset, and comforting the fallen Arbok. I left   
her to her own thoughts.  
  
"Wheezing!" it said as it floated out of the hole. I wasn't sure   
where it was going, so I followed it. Noticing that I was leaving the   
hole, Jessie called back her Arbok and followed. When we got to the   
top, Ash still had his pokemon out, he was showing them off to the   
visitor for the day, who looked rather impressed. Brock had his   
Vulpix out, and Misty had her Starmie. They stood there happily   
conversing, oblivious to the villains they had knocked out earlier.  
  
"Wheezing!" it called rather loudly, distracting the happy bunch. It   
floated closer.  
  
"Still haven't learned your lesson, Team Rocket? You guys are   
persistent. I wish you would just leave us alone! Come on, let's   
knock out this pokemon so they'll leave finally!" Ash called.  
  
The others agreed, and all the pokemon that were out began preparing   
attacks. Wheezing simply floated closer.  
  
"Vulpix, Starmie, Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pidgeotto,   
go!" Ash called loudly.  
  
Wheezing never gave them the pleasure. It started to glow a bright   
white. Jessie, realizing what was about to happen, grabbed me and   
pulled me into the hole. I was confused, I didn't understand what   
Wheezing was doing. That is, until I heard the explosion. After the   
roar from it had ceased, I jumped out of the hole and ran to see   
Wheezing. What I found was 7 pokemon and 4 humans knocked out cold.   
The Earth was charred black where Wheezing had exploded. I kneeled   
there and put my head into my hands.  
  
"James, why did it do that?" Jessie asked.  
  
"Because it wanted to win. It knew how to do it, and it won. Just for   
me. It wanted me to feel what winning was." I replied, muffled by my   
hands. Jessie didn't need to see my tears. They were for my other   
friend. I wanted to know what victory felt like, but not at this   
cost. If all victory feels like this, I'll enjoy being a looser,   
thank you very much. It's better to be a looser with Wheezing than   
be a winner without. After a time, I wiped my eyes and stood up.   
Jessie had sat on a stone at the edge of the hole we dug. She was   
staring into the distance.  
  
"Well," I said, "if victory's what it wanted for me, than let's go.   
I'll grab Pikachu, it's still unconscious. Let's go, before the   
others wake up." There were still traces of sadness in my voice, but   
I didn't care. I put Pikachu in a pokeball and Jessie and I started   
the long walk back. She was very sympathetic, but she didn't know   
what I was going through, so it was only comforting to a degree.  
  
The boss was quite pleased with his new pokemon. He gave us our new   
electric pokemon. That's his way of getting us to do things, we join   
with no pokemon, do an easy assignment, then slowly get one with every   
task we complete. Jessie and I had only successfully caught a Grimer,   
but we had gotten Ekans and Koffing as a reward. This day, Jessie was   
rather pleased at her bonus of a Magnemite.  
  
I was a tad troubled by my Voltorb. 


End file.
